One by One (I'll Knock You Out)
by prettywhiteclouds
Summary: Collection of drabbles featuring various MCU characters and pairings. Pairings so far: Darcy/Sam (ch2)
1. Electric - Part One (Jane)

NOTES:

Feel free to offer prompts in the reviews or via my tumblr (prettywhiteclouds).  
Title is from "Cellphone's Dead" by Beck.  
**This has brief mentions of the start of a panic attack, so you may want to avoid it if you're sensitive to that.**

* * *

Her fingertips were on fire.

_Wait, what?_

Her fingertips were on fire and she could feel the flames starting to lick up her arms.

_No, there's no fire. Get up, get up, get up!_

She rolled onto her side and tried to push herself up, but the contact between her palm and the cold floor only intensified the burning sensation dancing across her skin. She couldn't open her eyes, but she swore she saw sparks across the lids. All she heard was ringing. She felt panic rising and constricting in her chest and she felt her heart skip a beat, but then her mom's voice clearly in her head.

_"Don't let it take over. You have control. Breathe."_

So she focused on just that - breathing. In and out. In and out. She tried opening her eyes again. It worked, but she still couldn't see much.

_Okay, I'm still in the lab. But what happened?_

The lights had been turned off and broken glass littered the floor. She cautiously placed her palm down again to push herself into a seated position. Pain shot through and up her arm, but she kept pushing. She groaned (or she was sure she did as all she could hear was ringing.) Sitting was only slightly better than lying down. Less contact with the floor, but she could see more of the lab and how destroyed it was. She couldn't tell which hurt more.

"Jane!" The voice was muffled and too quiet, but she heard it and turned her head to look for the source. _Darcy_. The younger woman stood outside the lab with her hands fisted against the glass window. _Why is she crying like that?_ Darcy had mascara streaking down her red, damp, face. Jane furrowed her brow and looked around the lab, though not too quickly because she was starting to feel a little nauseous. Thankfully most of the equipment was still intact, but the plastic containers and turn near her looked... melted.

She remembered talking to Tony earlier. He asked if she had some spare time to look at a prototype he'd developed for Natasha - an electrifying weapon, like an ultra taser. Jane had worked on armor for the rest of the team before, to help protect them when Thor utilized lightning in battle, and she was to add similar protection around the casing for the new weapon to protect Natasha.

_Something went wrong. Why is Darcy crying? What did I do?_ Panic rose again and Jane shook her head in an attempt to clear it._ I'm alive. Alive, thinking, and seeing. I can move. It's okay.  
_  
"J-Jarvis," she croaked. Her voice felt too small and her throat too dry. "Jarvis?" She blinked and concentrated on listening through the ringing.

"-ster, I am going to open the doors. For everyone's safety, please do not touch anyone. I am instructing them of the same." The AI's voice sounded like he was in a tin can. "You have been electrocuted, but the electricity is not leaving your body."

"How? That's impossible." Jane moved to pick up a metal clipboard on the ground near her. Her thoughts were moving like molasses and she struggled to connect her experiments with her current state. As soon as she touched the clipboard, a shock ran through her. "What the hell?"

"My thoughts exactly, Foster." Jane turned to see Tony and Darcy entering the lab. Darcy wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes and nose were still ruby red.

"You scared the shit out of me, boss lady," Darcy said, sniffling as she walked towards Jane. Tony held out an arm to hold her back.

"She's a living taser, kid, and not the kind you like. I don't need you accidentally dead right now."

"Can you turn the lights on?" Jane asked. She decided to try standing. It hurt like hell to move and her skin still felt like it was going to burn off. She used a nearby desk as leverage and was soon vertical. "There's glass everywhere and I need to look at the equipment. Figure out what happened…"

The lights slowly flickered on and Darcy gasped. Jane looked up and saw Tony staring at her like she had sprouted another head. "What? What's wrong? What is it?" she asked, lifting a shaking hand to her face. It felt like her face was still attached and she didn't feel anything weird. She held her hand in front of her to check for evidence of an injury and inhaled sharply.

_Holy shit._

"Jane, don't freak out." Darcy held her hands up and seemed to be fighting back more tears. "We'll fix it! You'll be okay!"

Jane stared at her hand. It was covered in navy blue lines that looked like lightning bolts she had seen in the desert so many times. She exhaled, realizing she'd been holding her breath, and felt a ball of worry curl in her stomach. Stumbling to the right, Jane looked at her reflection in the glass window facing the hallway. The same markings covered her face and her eyes… the pupils were glowing. She looked down at her hand again and clenched it into a fist. Either the burning sensation was beginning to subside or she was getting used to it.

Jane frowned as a spark jumped from her fist to the desk lamp nearest to her.

"I'm getting the feeling that this isn't something you fix, Darce."


	2. Do You? (Darcy Lewis x Sam Wilson)

It was the kind of heat that stifled your lungs and necessitated a second shower exactly two minutes after stepping outside. Darcy groaned and held her (formerly) iced coffee to her forehead. Spending her summer break visiting Jane in New York had sounded like a good plan a month ago. Hanging out on rooftops and hitting every tourist spot with one of her best friends? Amazing.

Well, it was until Jane made some kind of breakthrough and now Darcy hadn't seen her in three days, leaving the former intern to wander the city in search of entertainment. And she would have been happy to look around by herself in normal circumstances. But this humidity? It tortured her sanity and hair.

Darcy pulled the now-also-hot coffee cup from her head and tried to angrily throw it in the garbage next to her, but she lacked the energy to even do that properly and the cup bounced off the edge of the bin. She groaned again and started to peel herself from the park bench she had been melting on for the past half hour.

Just as she reached the cup, which had stopped rolling in the middle of the path a couple feet in front of her bench, a jogger stomped down on it and sent her caramel coffee spraying all over.

"Holy shit," she yelped. "Hot! Sticky! Jesus!" Coffee covered her shirt and dripped off her glasses.

The runner stopped and ran back to her side, with a look of despair on his face and coffee on his white Nikes.

"I am so sorry, ma'am," he said, moving his hands around like he wanted to help her up but didn't know how.

Darcy stood and punted the coffee cup towards the trash can.

"It's okay." She tried to clean her glasses with her shirt, but settled for the back of her shorts and it was the only part of her clothing not completely drenched. "I wasn't sure if I could possibly be more uncomfortable, but now I know."

She put her glasses back on and looked at the jogger. He was frowning but adorable. Darcy knew he'd be straight-up hot with a smile. She grinned and felt a blush creep up. Hopefully coffee covered part of it. His frown slowly turned into a grin as well. Well, I was definitely right, she thought.

"I'd offer to buy you another coffee," he said. "But I get the sense that you didn't want that one anyway?"

"Um, yeah. It's way too obnoxiously hot for that anyway. Plus, I look atrocious right now," she said and gestured to her shirt.

He shook his head and smirked. "I wouldn't say that... but I'll agree on the heat. Ice cream instead?"

"Ice cream is never a question." Darcy could feel the sticky caramel coffee drying on her skin. "If I can stop and change on the way, that is." She stuck her hand out towards him. "Darcy, by the way."

"Sam," he said, taking her hand and shaking it. His skin was hot too, but she didn't mind.

* * *

They walked the four blocks back to the tower and talked about what Darcy had done in NYC so far and the rest of her to-do list. Sam was also new to the city and helped her with his own recommendations.

Darcy stopped in front of the tower and motioned toward the front doors.

"I'll just change and clean up real quick. Security here is a bitch, though, so you can wait here if you'd like." She didn't know the guy anyway and inviting him up would not be a great idea. Hiding from Tony Stark in her current state would be hard enough as it was.

"Wait," Sam said. He looked at the tower, confused, and back at Darcy. "You're staying here?"

"Well… yeah…," Darcy squinted at him. "I'm staying with a friend who lives here."

"Lives _here_?" He pointed at the tower and then placed his hands on his hips. "Lives here in _this_ tower?" She nodded.

"Yes, Sam." Darcy, still squinting, looked at the tower again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating in the heat and had gone to the wrong place. "Is that… bad?"

"Bad? No," Sam replied, chuckling. "Funny, though, because I live here."

Darcy gave him the side-eye. "You live _here_? You live in _this_ tower?"

Sam covered his face with his hands and was now laughing loudly.

"Well, I'm going to go inside while you recover. And then we'll sort this out over ice cream. My brain is too fried to figure out what the hell is going on right now." Darcy left the giggling Sam outside and quickly walked inside. The lobby was wonderfully cool and Darcy attempted to stand directly below an air vent while she waited for an elevator.

"Sorry about that," Sam said, appearing at her side. "This is just pure gold. Though, I'm not going to wait outside my own building while you change. Might as well go up myself."

The elevator doors opened and the two stepped inside. Darcy wondered if now might be the time to check if Sam was legit or some creepo murderer. She moved towards the floor buttons and innocently asked, "Which floor?"

"What's up, Jarvis?" Sam said, looking directly at Darcy.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Wilson," Jarvis replied. Darcy's jaw dropped. "Would you like to go home?"

"Yes, please."

"Me too, Jarvis," Darcy said, not taking her eyes off Sam.

"Of course, Miss Lewis." The elevator started its ascent and Darcy leaned back against the wall.

"Seriously though? You gotta be fucking joking," she said, raking a hand through her hair. "What's your thing? Super soldier, spy, suit, science?"

Sam leaned against the opposite wall. "None, technically. I work with Cap. You?"

"None. I'm visiting Jane." Sam nodded and seemed to be holding back a grin. "Go ahead, say it."

"You're the one who tased Thor, then?"

Darcy looked down at her stained shoes. "It's a good thing I'm proud of that since I'll be hearing about it for the rest of my life."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the common room on her - their - level. Darcy started towards her temporary room, then stopped and turned back to look at Sam. "I'm going to change and - if it's not too weird at this point - we can eat ice cream here? If Thor didn't inhale it already, that is."

Sam stepped towards her and if he were anyone else she would have punched him out of her personal space, but she quickly decided that she liked him being near. "Definitely not weird. Better, actually, since I wanted to meet taser girl anyway." He winked and walked backwards away from her, towards where she knew the Captain's residence was. "And I'll bring my popsicle stash since I kind of owe you anyway." He turned and disappeared around a corner.

Darcy stared after him, ruminating over her luck and chewing on her bottom lip.

The elevator dinged again and Jane rushed out. "Darcy! I'm the worst ever! I'm going to make it up to you, I sw-" Darcy put her hand over Jane's mouth.

"Jane." Darcy slowly lowered her hand. "Go back to the lab." Jane looked at Darcy with a mixture of disbelief and relief.

"Are you sure? I mean, if you're sure." Darcy narrowed her eyes and pointed to the elevator. "If you say so. Okay, bye!" Jane laughed maniacally and grabbed a box of pop tarts from nearby kitchen counter before rushing back inside the elevator. "You said it and you can't take it back," she yelled as the doors closed again.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Janey," Darcy said as she walked back to Jane's rooms, suddenly very grateful for New York in the summer.


End file.
